The Connecticut River Valley was one of the most important centers in America for the teaching and production of embroidered pictures by girls and young women in private academies during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. As the first exhibition to examine the subject of Connecticut River Valley needlework in depth, With Needle and Brush contributes to the understanding of the traditions of needlework and provides insight into the nature of women’s schooling before the advent of widespread public education. Guest-curated by needlework experts Carol and Stephen Huber, this exhibition of approximately seventy embroideries, watercolor sketches, and portraits will draw extensively on works from private collections, many never before shown publicly.

I love the example above- which I think is a "mourning embroidery". If any of our readers are in Old Lyme, Connecticut and have a chance to see this, let us know about it!

6 comments:

wow, thank you so very much for sharing this piece of history, it's beautiful. i love learning stuff and i had no idea about mourning embroidery, i recently learned about mourning handkerchiefs and all this helps me with purchases as i am out & about...again, i appreciate the variety you share on your blog. :)

I love this kind of stuff. I would totally go if I was nearby. I go to museums to see paintings and other exhibits often and now I notice myself getting excited over an embroidered textile I never noticed or a piece of embroidered lace lying atop a beautiful cabinet rather than looking at the painting that's hanging above it! Don't tell my hubby!